Latest / Credlin / Credlin | 16 September

Transcript

Credlin | 16 September · Credlin

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peter Credlin, live from News 24.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Nice and early, Chris Kenny, you're keeping me on my toes. Welcome,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: good evening, to the program. Here's Credlin. The show's big tonight.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We'll start with the first issue when I talk about
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: yet more warnings tonight of Australia's failure to address the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: rise of radical extremism. The man who abruptly quit as
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the advisor to the Bondi Royal Commission, Dennis Richardson, joins
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: me as he fears the political correctness is shutting down
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the national security debate. Victoria's $ 200 billion debt bomb and
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: the secretive deal that Labor used to cook the budget
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: books as polling shows the decision to boot St Alan
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: for Ben Carroll is not helping Labor. More revelations too
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: tonight on the Prime Minister's golf club grants scandal and
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the net migration wrangle. Labor set to reveal its magic
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: number tomorrow. It says it'll get Australia on a stronger path.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: There's a lot riding on that.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: We do need to get net overseas migration down. To
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: be able to work through this, we need to be
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: able to make sure that we deal with the numbers.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: We need to make sure that we deal with the
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: numbers overall and do so in a sensible, targeted way
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: that provides the easiest pathway through for the Australian economy.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure Labor's got the trust quotient on migration anymore.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: We'll see what eventuates tomorrow. But first, I want to
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: return now to the Prime Minister's decision to announce a
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: $ 6 million grant to his local golf club and the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: excuses coming thick and fast as to why this is
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: above board when taxpayers still don't have the answers they deserve.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Let's start with some basic numbers that I think you're
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: going to find interesting. Not only is a $ 6 million
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: grant to the Marrickville Golf Club one of the largest
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: sporting grants on record, but this club has barely any members.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I've done a bit of research today and uncovered that
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: from the most recent numbers at Golf New South Wales, well,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: they report the club is only having 417 affiliated golfers. Now,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I'm not talking here about social members or casual users.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about registered golfers. So you do the maths.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: That's a grant from taxpayers that works out to be
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: around $ 14, 000 per affiliated golfer at Marrickville. That's a lot
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: of money, particularly when the rules about paying out these
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: grants require the organisation to show a wide community reach.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: And this is in the government's own documents. Page eight
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: says that applicants are required to demonstrate why the projects
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: needed by the community and how the community will benefit
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and that the broader benefits your project will deliver for
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: the region and community. On page nine, Applicants were specifically
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: asked to provide examples of how your project may benefit
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the wider community, not just your organisation or operation. It
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: also asks about the level of community participation in the project.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Now that's a question that must be answered here on Marrickville.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: The council's own research recorded evidence of the golf club's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: declining membership, While consultation by the council identified people who
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: felt the public land there wasn't adequately shared, they were
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: concerned about being hit by golf balls. Further, that a
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: nine hole course would have provided more benefit to the community.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So if the golf club didn't get its $ 6 million
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: windfall because of wide community reach, then how did it
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: get funded? How material is the fact at 200 metres
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: from the golf club, is a $ 3 million home still
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: owned by the Prime Minister? Now, this is a legitimate
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: question to ask. The Prime Minister has tried very hard
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: to say that allocating this money was not his decision,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that it was his close friend and factional ally, Catherine King,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: who was in charge.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: The decision-maker is the Minister for Infrastructure. I'm not even
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: the decision-maker.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, as I revealed last night, after last year's election,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: King set up the framework for this half a billion
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: dollar fund and announced it on the 1st of September.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: But that's a full six months after Albanese himself announced
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the money. In public servant speak, she might have signed
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: the cheque, but it was her boss, the Prime Minister,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: that told the club back in April that they had
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: this money in the bag. She might have rubber-stamped the decision,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: but it was the Prime Minister who made it. And
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: here's the Prime Minister's press release from that time that
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: proves it. Just him, nothing at all here to do
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: with Catherine King. And what about this Facebook post from
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: July 29 from local Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: himself a long-time factional mate of Albanese, the man most
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: likely to succeed him in the seat when the Prime
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Minister retires? where he says the future of the Marrickville
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Golf Club has been secured with a $ 6 million investment
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: towards its upgrade from the federal government. Remember, that's a
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: full two months before King even established her little process.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Here's the kicker. Have a look at this video from
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the council mayor, Darcy Byrne, who put it to Facebook,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: posted it up there on the 31st of July, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it features him, his deputy, Matt Howard, and the golf
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: club president, Andrew Tai.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: We're here at Marrickville Golf Club having a conversation about
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: the $ 6 million renovation that is soon to take place
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: here at this clubhouse, which is going to be even better.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: I'm here with the deputy mayor, Matt Howard, and with
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Andrew and Matt from Marrickville Golf Club And thanks to
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: the Federal Labor Government and to Prime Minister Albo for
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: the $ 6 million grant that they committed to during the campaign,
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: the Council's now been able to make the decision that
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: we're going to bring forward the design process for this
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: renovation and we'll fund the designs while we're waiting for
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: the grant to come through. So what are you guys
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: thinking about how this will.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: Improve the club?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's going to be fantastic.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: This will be the start of a whole new era
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: for the club. We'll be able to turn this place
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: into such a.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Wonderful community area.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: This is going to be able to bring forward all
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: the projects that we've had planned for years and years
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: and years.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: And we've always been after grant funding for this.
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: Now we've got a big kick of money and we'll
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: be able to.
• 6:44
  Speaker 8: Do it all.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: As a Marriott local, you know, this is already a hub.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: for the community, but imagine once it's a really high
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: quality facility, how.
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: Much it will be used. It's already a destination and
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: I think this upgrade is going to really bring more
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: locals down to the club. People love and have a
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: strong connection to the club and it's going to be
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: an even better place to come and Enjoy a beer
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: and some food with your family.
• 7:04
  Speaker 7: The live music will be great.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, all the community facilities are going to be really,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: really good now. And it'll be sustainable. We'll be able
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: to keep this going for years and years and years now.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: So thanks very much, Prime Minister Albanese. And the Inner
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: West Council is ready to work with the federal government
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: and with the club to make sure.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: That we deliver a really high-quality facility.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: OK, that Facebook post is months and months before... Catherine
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: King even opens her process. Do they sound like they're,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: that they don't think they've got the money? Do they
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: sound like it's up in the air and there's a
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: process to go through? I mean, Labor needs to stop
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: insulting our intelligence, trying to deflect with excuses about process
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: and The question is not, did the Prime Minister have
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: a conflict of interest here? That's been established already. He does.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: He does have a conflict of interest. The real question is,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: was it disclosed and when did he disclose it? Now,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: he can spin things all he likes. But the facts
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: are that this is his government handing out money to
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: a golf club in his backyard. And his long-standing relationship
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: with the club, something he first tried to deny, but
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: then was caught out by this footage.
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: And today I want to announce.
• 8:25
  Speaker 9: that a federal Labor government is committing $ 350, 000 to make
• 8:31
  Speaker 9: sure that this club can host more events, support more
• 8:35
  Speaker 9: volunteer organisations, support more charities and be even better than
• 8:41
  Speaker 9: it is today.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Well, that's small beer compared to what they're going to
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: get now. It's a, what, 20-fold increase. It's also worth
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: taking another look at the club's history because that's also unusual.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Now let's remind ourselves just how big this pocket of
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: green space in Sydney really is. Green space that's particularly
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: rare in an inner west suburb like Marrickville. So preserving
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: it presumably benefits every homeowner in close proximity. A few
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: years ago, the club president, Andrew Tai, noted that the
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Marrickville Golf Club has never had a lease longer than
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: six months. But after a campaign involving Albanese, the club
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: landed itself a new 21-year lease deal, reported at the
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: time as the longest lease ever in the club's almost
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: 80-year history. Well, how fortuitous for the Prime Minister that
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: the green space at the end of his street was
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: now protected. God forbid it might have been sold off
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: for social housing. Let's also look at some of the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: club newsletters and annual reports. After that announcement in April
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: from the Prime Minister, that they would get this $ 6
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: million windfall from his government's invite-only slush fund. You'd think
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: a club chasing $ 6 million would have some idea about
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: what they might spend it on, wouldn't you? You'd think
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: if the project was orthodox, there would be well-developed plans
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: that costed project budgets. Think again. Here's a document from
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: the Inner West Council papers on their website. This is
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: from late May last year. And right there on the
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: agenda is a resolution to engage experts, to consult locals,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: and then develop a plan to work up a project
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: on which to spend the club's $ 6 million grant. Again,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: how fortuitous for the Barrickville Golf Club that they get
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: $ 6 million promised to them by Albanese before they even
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: know what they will do with it. How lucky for
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: them that Albanese is, in the words of his great
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: factional mate, the mayor, the club's most famous patron. This morning,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: in an interview with my colleague Kieran Gilbert, there was
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: this nonsensical attempt by Labor power broker Stephen Conroy to
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: to explain away this funding grant. But the more he
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: tried to defend it, the more he got himself into trouble. First,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: by trying to say this was just an election commitment
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: from Albanese, not an actual decision, Conroy ended up confirming
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: that election promises are made to be delivered.
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: Well, you know that you're going to deliver on the
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: election commitment because you've been elected. But counterfactual is the
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: Liberals would attack the Prime Minister, for failing to deliver
• 11:36
  Speaker 8: on his election commitment. So you've won the election. You
• 11:39
  Speaker 8: know you're going to give the grants. You're setting the
• 11:42
  Speaker 8: program up. There's absolutely nothing improper, nothing improper in saying, hey,
• 11:48
  Speaker 8: as promised before the election, we are going to deliver.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Well, that's my point exactly. Once it's announced by the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister, I mean, he's the boss of his own government,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: that $ 6 million will go to his Marrickville Golf Club, well,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: of course they're going to get the money. The idea
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: that the Minister signing off the cheque somehow makes her
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: decision is rubbish. Conroy just said once the promise is made,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: it's on the government's head to deliver it. Catherine King
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: might not make the decision to fund the Marrickville Golf Club.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Albanese did six months earlier. King was just the minister
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: who executed it. Now, none of this washes away questions
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: that the prime minister still refuses to answer over his
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: clear conflicts of interest. And that's the crux of the
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: issue here. What was or was not disclosed by him
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: prior to the $ 6 million announcement in April last year?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: That's it. And if he did declare his conflicts, homeowner,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: club member, where's the evidence? This is what taxpayers are
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: entitled to know. Here's Stephen Connery again.
• 12:59
  Speaker 10: But he was the one who made the promise, so
• 13:01
  Speaker 10: it seems a bit contradictory. No, he was.
• 13:06
  Speaker 8: Campaigning as a local MP. The delivery of the promise.
• 13:12
  Speaker 8: promise is done via the department. So he's not the
• 13:16
  Speaker 8: decision maker. He's able to say, we got elected, I'm
• 13:19
  Speaker 8: now going to deliver, and the fund will be set
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: up to, you know, keep our election commitments. This is
• 13:27
  Speaker 8: completely different. And he's not the decision maker.
• 13:31
  Speaker 10: But a minister's hardly going to say, yeah, no, I
• 13:33
  Speaker 10: get that. But I mean, a minister's hardly going to say, sorry, boss.
• 13:36
  Speaker 10: You're not going to get that one. You promised it,
• 13:38
  Speaker 10: but you're going to have it.
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: Well, I hope that they deliver it on.
• 13:40
  Speaker 10: It's not happening.
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: I hope that the minister deliver it on all the
• 13:43
  Speaker 8: election promises that were made. Otherwise, the Liberal Party would
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: be attacking the prime minister by breaking his word. They
• 13:50
  Speaker 8: can't have it both ways.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: No, you can't have it both ways. The prime minister
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: can't have it both ways. Albanese made this announcement. He
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: decided it. And his Marrickville Golf Club mates got the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: $ 6 million that they didn't even have a plan to spend.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: You saw the video. They know the money was theirs.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Catherine King is factional, mate. Well, she just tidied up
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: the paperwork at the end. That's all. All right, let's
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: go to Canberra now for the headlines with Trudy McIntosh.
• 14:26
  Speaker 11: After a six-week delay, the Home Affairs Minister will finally
• 14:29
  Speaker 11: reveal the details of Labor's migration changes at the press
• 14:32
  Speaker 11: club tomorrow. Cabinet ticked off on the overhaul to ensure
• 14:35
  Speaker 11: migration levels don't once again overshoot the government's own targets.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: We need to make sure that we deal with the
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: numbers overall and do so in a sensible, targeted way.
• 14:45
  Speaker 12: Deeply sceptical about Labor's ability to deliver because for four
• 14:49
  Speaker 12: years they've failed to deliver.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: I think some of this debate about immigration is overcooked.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, you could ask Australians... would you like less traffic?
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: And a lot of people want less traffic.
• 14:59
  Speaker 11: One Nation got in first with a bigger proposed cut
• 15:02
  Speaker 11: of $ 750, 000, including by slashing students bringing family members to Australia.
• 15:07
  Speaker 13: You can't have you doing an advanced course in hairdressing
• 15:11
  Speaker 13: with seven family members coming to follow you and all
• 15:13
  Speaker 13: deciding they're going to live in Bankstown. It's just not
• 15:15
  Speaker 13: going to work.
• 15:16
  Speaker 11: A new fight has erupted over copyright protections for Australian
• 15:19
  Speaker 11: creators amid big threats from AI giants.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: The government is planning to upend copyright violations As we
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: know it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 11: Leaked government documents show AI giants could be allowed to
• 15:29
  Speaker 11: hoover up Australian content for free unless creatives opt out,
• 15:33
  Speaker 11: as long as the companies strike enough deals with others.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Why should people have to opt out of having their
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: work stolen?
• 15:39
  Speaker 8: You should be paid for it. Someone just can't come
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: in and take it and use it.
• 15:43
  Speaker 11: Companies like OpenAI are playing hardball on copyright as they
• 15:47
  Speaker 11: dangle the carrot of big investment down under. The government
• 15:50
  Speaker 11: insists it can strike the right balance.
• 15:52
  Speaker 10: You know, we're not a country that should sit back
• 15:53
  Speaker 10: and and respond to threats like that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 11: Trudy McIntosh, News 24, Canberra.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: All right, let's bring in my panel now, News 24
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Senior Reporter Carolyn Marcus and Senior Fellow at the Menzies
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Research Centre, Nick Cater. Welcome to you both. I think
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: my assessment this week is Labor's in real trouble, Nick Cater.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: PM facing increasing pressure over this Marrickville Golf Club grant
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: and The Age has reported that Jim Chalmers has had
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: a private meeting with colleagues trying to reassure them that
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: he knows what he's doing as they're getting more and
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: more worried about the state of the economy. We know,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: of course, there's talk of another interest rate rise in
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: coming days. What's your assessment?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: I think they're in an enormous amount of trouble, Peter.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese, his own personal problems going to his integrity
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and his honesty once again are under question and that
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: comes after... poll earlier this week, which showed that two
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: thirds of the country or thereabouts don't trust the prime minister,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: don't trust their prime minister. That's a serious problem. But
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: underlying that, of course, are these enormous structural problems with
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the economy, which have worsened considerably under this government. They
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: came to power without any real awareness, it seems to me,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of what the needs of this country were, which were
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: improved productivity and growth, restore the intergenerational compact that says
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: that the next generation will be better off than this one.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: They haven't done that. We're going backwards. Every economic measure
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: you look at is deeply depressing at the moment. So
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I think that they are in enormous trouble, not just
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the superficial stuff. over the Anthony Albanese and his honesty,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: but over fundamental policy questions which are driving this country
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in the wrong direction very fast.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: And we'll get to, obviously, the announcements tomorrow in relation
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: to migration, because migration is an economic issue as much
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: as it is a cultural issue. Yesterday, Rhys Muldoon sacked
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: from his role as a Labor staffer after those degrading
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: online comments. Well, reported today, he's also been stripped of
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: his role as an Australia Day ambassador. Here was the
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister today asked about his mate.
• 18:15
  Speaker 9: It is not appropriate for him to be an ambassador.
• 18:19
  Speaker 13: I find his comments outrageous and completely unacceptable.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Well, sure, Caroline, I think we all do, but the
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: PM's refused to answer questions today as to whether he's
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: given Mull, whether he's given him a reference for any
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: of these jobs he's had, didn't he?
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: And I think that tells you everything, Peter.
• 18:41
  Speaker 14: He was asked by the Coalition's Tony Passon twice whether
• 18:44
  Speaker 14: he'd given this bloke any references, and he didn't answer
• 18:47
  Speaker 14: the question directly. He at first tried to blame a
• 18:51
  Speaker 14: previous Coalition government for appointing Rhys Muldoon as an Australia
• 18:55
  Speaker 14: Day ambassador. That turned out to be false, apparently. It
• 18:58
  Speaker 14: was the Gillard government that appointed him. It didn't really
• 19:01
  Speaker 14: quite make sense. This guy's always been very anti-Coalition, anti-Murdoch, anti-right-wing.
• 19:07
  Speaker 14: I've come across him before on X. He's prolific, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 14: I never realised the roles that he had had.
• 19:13
  Speaker 7: He's just... He was a troll. He is a troll.
• 19:16
  Speaker 14: I'm surprised he was ever offered a job in the
• 19:19
  Speaker 14: first place, but when you look at the fact that
• 19:22
  Speaker 14: the front page today in Sydney of The Daily Telegraph
• 19:24
  Speaker 14: showing him kissing Albanese on the cheek, when you look
• 19:28
  Speaker 14: at the fact that he was on the invite list
• 19:30
  Speaker 14: to Albanese's very intimate wedding, only 70 guests last year...
• 19:35
  Speaker 14: Things start to add up a little bit as to
• 19:37
  Speaker 14: how this guy may have landed the gigs that he did.
• 19:40
  Speaker 14: It's shameful because it wouldn't have taken more than a
• 19:43
  Speaker 14: few minutes to look at his ex-history.
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: I'm sure they were aware that he was posting this
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: vile stuff about you.
• 19:50
  Speaker 14: About Jacinta Nampajimpa Price, about many people, especially women on
• 19:55
  Speaker 14: the right and men on the right as well. So
• 19:58
  Speaker 14: how he ended up in these positions in the first
• 20:00
  Speaker 14: place is something that the prime minister should answer for,
• 20:04
  Speaker 14: quite frankly.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Enough said about a shocking individual. Let's go to the
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: modelling out today that says Australia's got no chance of
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: meeting Labor's ambitious energy target of 82% renewables by the
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: end of the decade and not long away from that decade. Indeed,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: if we're lucky, we're only going to get to 53%
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: and that's based on the number of projects being built
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: as at June 30 this year. This is the reality
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: we've all talked about, Nick, for some time, but a
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: fair amount of egg on Bowen's face ahead of that
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: COP conference, surely?
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Well, we've been talking about this since December 2021 when
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: they first announced this policy and this target. It's impossible
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: to meet, but of course you can do a lot
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: of damage trying to meet it, and that's exactly what
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: he's done. He is running into serious problems with the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: COP conference, but that's the least of his worries. I mean,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: we've got the country now with an electricity system which
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: is a quarter built, which is not going to be
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: completed in any time soon. And if it is, it's
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: not going to be stable enough or reliable enough to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: power the economy as it is, let alone with all
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the extra demands for store, you know, dead data storage
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and processing and so forth. It is a total disaster.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: And it's so central to the economy, as Chris put
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the point that Chris Allman is always making on this show,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that it is adding to that that fundamental miscalculation of
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: this government on the economy itself. which I think puts
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: us in a worse position than we've certainly been in
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: my lifetime.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Let's go to the announcement tomorrow that will be made
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: by Tony Burke, Home Affairs Minister at the Press Club,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: a postpone from a couple of months ago, which shows
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: clearly that he's had a A lot of trouble internally
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: getting the policy through. We don't know what he originally proposed,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: but it sort of landed around numbers that have been
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: put out today in terms of net overseas migration, taking
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: it from 300,000 in 2025 to a target of 245,000
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: in 26-27. and to 225,000 per year going forward. Well,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: I believe it when I see it, Labor's never landed
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: any of those numbers. This will be interesting tomorrow. Now,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I will make the point with that number of 225,000, Caroline,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: that's just about 100,000 more than the long-term average of
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: the Howard government. So it's still record high migration if
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: they get those numbers. That's a big if. But all
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: the way along here, The agenda has been set by
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: One Nation. So the government's finally had to come to
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: the table, at least putting a policy out there. We
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: had very little from Labor at the last election. They're
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: not pushed by the coalition at all. We've got no
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: policy from the coalition. This has been One Nation driving
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: the immigration debate and it's driving it on the back
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: of the polls and that's what's spooking Labor.
• 23:00
  Speaker 14: They're spooked, but even if they were to meet these targets, which,
• 23:05
  Speaker 14: as you point out, is, given their past record, highly unlikely,
• 23:09
  Speaker 14: they're not lowering it nearly enough. I mean, under a
• 23:13
  Speaker 14: one-nation policy, the numbers show that it would be capped.
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: At about 130,000, which is almost 100,000 lower than what
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: Labor's policy is. is going to be.
• 23:24
  Speaker 14: So why would any voter look at what Labor puts
• 23:28
  Speaker 14: up and think, well, this is where I should park
• 23:31
  Speaker 14: my vote if my number one concern is high immigration
• 23:37
  Speaker 14: and how that impacts our economy, how it impacts housing supply?
• 23:41
  Speaker 14: While we haven't seen what the Coalition's immigration policy is,
• 23:45
  Speaker 14: and they frankly need to hurry up on that, we
• 23:48
  Speaker 14: do know that.
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: Angus Taylor, the opposition leader.
• 23:51
  Speaker 14: had meetings with Albanese last week and he told him
• 23:57
  Speaker 14: in a letter, a published letter, that it needs to
• 24:01
  Speaker 14: be lower than 170,000 to be able to deal with
• 24:06
  Speaker 14: the housing supply. That would be the amount of buildings
• 24:09
  Speaker 14: that could cater for this number of people coming in.
• 24:12
  Speaker 14: So I think they need to revisit that number if
• 24:14
  Speaker 14: they want to have a strong chance at the next
• 24:17
  Speaker 14: election because, as you say, every poll has shown that
• 24:20
  Speaker 14: immigration is the number one concern or at least one
• 24:23
  Speaker 14: of the number one top concerns for voters.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: One thing I am happy to say, I've been asking
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: for a good decade to have a debate about migration.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: It's an issue that crosses right across the electorate. Country
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: and city people want this debate. We're finally having it.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: So let's bring it on. Thank you to you both.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Let's go down to concerns raised by veteran public servant
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Dennis Richardson, who abruptly quit his role as special adviser
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: to the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission in March. In a speech
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: for the Lowy Institute, Richardson warned political correctness was shutting
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: down important national security debates.
• 25:00
  Speaker 13: If people who are here who have never been to
• 25:03
  Speaker 13: a Jewish school, you've got to go to a Jewish school.
• 25:07
  Speaker 13: Because I'll tell you what, if you go to a
• 25:10
  Speaker 13: Jewish school, you'll think you're in the middle of Beirut
• 25:14
  Speaker 13: or you'll think you're in a part of the world
• 25:17
  Speaker 13: that you've never experienced before. Why weren't there journalists out
• 25:20
  Speaker 13: there visiting Jewish schools and reporting on what was happening
• 25:26
  Speaker 13: in our country? You don't address anything and you don't
• 25:32
  Speaker 13: deal with the issues by pretending they're not there and
• 25:37
  Speaker 13: by not reporting things because it may give rise to
• 25:41
  Speaker 13: social tension.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: All right, just to give you a sense of his credentials,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: former diplomat, former Australian ambassador, of course, to the United States,
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: former head of the Defence Department, former head of ASIO,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: our domestic intelligence agency, former head of the Foreign Affairs Department.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: As I say, veteran public servant. We're underlining that, aren't we?
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Bringing him now. Dennis Richardson, thank you for coming on
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: the program. Terrific speech last night. And I played a
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: little bit of the Q & A there because I
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: think you really took the room to task, as you should.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: So how do we have a debate in this country
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: about radical Islam and extremism in the current political environment?
• 26:24
  Speaker 13: Well, I think, Peter, first of all, obviously we've got
• 26:29
  Speaker 13: to do it in a way in which Australian Muslims
• 26:33
  Speaker 13: do not feel as a whole that they're being targeted.
• 26:38
  Speaker 13: I think it's important that mainstream Muslim leaders be involved
• 26:45
  Speaker 13: in the discussion. I think that can be done. You
• 26:50
  Speaker 13: have active discussion in a country like Indonesia about the
• 26:57
  Speaker 13: role of Islam. You've had open discussions in other countries
• 27:04
  Speaker 13: about the role of religion in politics. such as in Ireland.
• 27:09
  Speaker 13: And in Australia in the past, we have discussed some
• 27:13
  Speaker 13: pretty difficult issues publicly which involve religious institutions. I'm not
• 27:21
  Speaker 13: in any way saying they are of equal significance. They're very,
• 27:28
  Speaker 13: very different issues. But you look at Child Sexual Abuse
• 27:33
  Speaker 13: Royal Commission involving the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and
• 27:38
  Speaker 13: other organisations of that kind. So as a country, we
• 27:43
  Speaker 13: have shown that we are able to discuss openly and
• 27:49
  Speaker 13: sensibly pretty sensitive issues.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: So I agree with that and I agree with the
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: examples you cite there. But the issue is, excuse me,
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: the Muslim leaders are not at the table. They're not
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: putting themselves at the table. At any opportunity, Dennis, they
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: could have come out and held a press conference or
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: issued statements of condemnation in relation to hate speeches, what
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: we saw out at Lakemba on the night of October 7,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: the great celebration, said some, what was happening on the
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: steps of the Opera House. I mean, they are absent
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: from the debate. That's a big part of the problem.
• 28:29
  Speaker 13: Yeah, I had a meeting quite some years ago when
• 28:32
  Speaker 13: I was in ASIO. I spent a Saturday with Islamic
• 28:37
  Speaker 13: community leaders from around the country. And you do get
• 28:41
  Speaker 13: a mix of views, as you should get. But one
• 28:46
  Speaker 13: of the community leaders asked me quite a devastating question.
• 28:51
  Speaker 13: He said to me, how does my community prove that
• 28:56
  Speaker 13: we are loyal Australians? And I said, well, I've failed
• 29:00
  Speaker 13: in my job and others have failed in theirs if
• 29:04
  Speaker 13: you feel it necessary to ask that question. So there's
• 29:09
  Speaker 13: a variety of reasons why Islamic leaders may not come forward.
• 29:13
  Speaker 13: I think most Islamic leaders... Dennis, that's a cop-out.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Dennis, that is such a cop-out. It is.
• 29:23
  Speaker 13: Most Islamic leaders in this country do, in fact, have
• 29:29
  Speaker 13: concern about Islamists in terms of their attitude towards government
• 29:38
  Speaker 13: and religion. That needs to be approached in a sensible way.
• 29:42
  Speaker 13: They did issue statements after Bondi. After 15 people were dead, Dennis.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: But where were they for the three years earlier than that?
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: They were celebrating. A lot of these leaders were celebrating
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: the events of October 7th.
• 29:58
  Speaker 13: Not a lot.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: And they were cheering on.
• 29:59
  Speaker 13: Not a lot. A very small minority. A very small minority.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: The problem is they are absent from the debate. We
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: do not have to invite the Catholic Archbishops to get
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: out there and condemn this day and age child sexual abuse. Right?
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: We don't have to do that. And we should not
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: have to do that. This should be something that if
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: you want to call yourself an Islamic leader in Australia,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: that you come out and say this is not the
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Australian way. That's the problem that we have in this country.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: I think there is not enough good Muslim people, if
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: we can call that phrase, getting out there and decrying
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: the radical elements. I interviewed a Muslim academic out of
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: the UAE, a political strategist to the government, and he
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: said the problem in Australia is that you won't ban
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: the Muslim Brotherhood. You don't crack down on the radical
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: elements like we do in the UAE. I look at
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Saudi Arabia and other countries too that stamp out the
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: terrorism elements. Are we not doing enough? Muslim leaders say
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: we're not overseas.
• 31:03
  Speaker 13: Well, I don't know. I think our law enforcement and
• 31:08
  Speaker 13: security agencies would in fact disagree with that. In what way? Well,
• 31:16
  Speaker 13: if you look at the number of people who have
• 31:18
  Speaker 13: been imprisoned in Australia for terrorism-related offences, I think it
• 31:26
  Speaker 13: speaks for itself. But how you engage a community is important.
• 31:31
  Speaker 13: You can't engage a community by browbeating them and making
• 31:35
  Speaker 13: them feel on the defensive from the word go. You
• 31:39
  Speaker 13: need to approach that somewhat differently.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: I think the Jews would say that there is time
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: for talk and there is time for action. And after Bondi,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: we're in the time for action. I mean, I've spoken
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: to a lot of people in the law enforcement space.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: I've read reports from whistleblowers. They say that there is
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: not enough resourcing for counterterrorism. They say that they're not
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: able to keep Australians safe. I spoke to Mike Pozzuolo
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: just last night, who is concerned in that speech made
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: by your ASIO successor, Mike Burgess, on Friday, that we've
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: had an elevation of terror plots that have had to
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: be disrupted. I mean, we're in very difficult times, Dennis.
• 32:24
  Speaker 13: Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, there's no debating that.
• 32:30
  Speaker 13: Bondi was simply horrific. And what Mike said the other
• 32:35
  Speaker 13: day about stopping further attacks since then is really worrying.
• 32:43
  Speaker 13: And I certainly hope that law enforcement and the security
• 32:48
  Speaker 13: agencies have moved more resources into counter-terrorism, as they can
• 32:54
  Speaker 13: if they need to.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Previously in the past, and I'll finish on this question,
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: previously in the past we've had a multitude of royal
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: commissions where prime ministers have appeared or former prime ministers
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: as well, obviously ministers, and you well understand the principle
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: of responsible government. Why do you think there's not been
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: any public hearings attended to where evidence is given by
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: the prime minister or ministers that who had direct responsibility
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: for portfolios that were at the front line last December.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: That's not good enough.
• 33:28
  Speaker 13: Well, that's a decision for the Royal Commissioner and I
• 33:33
  Speaker 13: think you've got to wait for the Commission's report to
• 33:37
  Speaker 13: come out before you start making too many judgments about it.
• 33:41
  Speaker 13: The Commission has already served a very enormous public service
• 33:47
  Speaker 13: by highlighting... the environment in which Australian Jewish people have
• 33:56
  Speaker 13: lived for quite some years, but particularly since the 7th
• 34:01
  Speaker 13: of October, 23. I think the Royal Commission has done
• 34:05
  Speaker 13: an excellent job of that. Now, how far it goes
• 34:09
  Speaker 13: in other areas, we'll need to wait and see its report.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: It's not just, though, supposed to be a record of
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: emotional harrowing testimony, which it has been from survivors, and
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: I agree that is very important, Dennis. It's not just
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: meant to be a record of Bondi, though. It's supposed
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: to help us prevent a terror attack like it occurring
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: in the future. How can we have the head of
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: Netball Australia give evidence to the Royal Commission but not
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: the head of the Australian Federal Police?
• 34:44
  Speaker 13: Well, you had the head of, well, I don't know
• 34:46
  Speaker 13: what the decision making was in terms of the head
• 34:50
  Speaker 13: of the AFP. Certainly the head of ASIO appeared. Certainly
• 34:54
  Speaker 13: senior police officers appeared from New South Wales. There was
• 34:59
  Speaker 13: an interim report, part of which was classified. I imagine
• 35:06
  Speaker 13: that part of the Royal Commission's final report during December
• 35:11
  Speaker 13: will be classified. And I imagine that those classified elements
• 35:16
  Speaker 13: will go to important aspects of how security and law
• 35:21
  Speaker 13: enforcement are working together.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: I hope your optimism is the result, that it's fruitful.
• 35:31
  Speaker 13: No, I'm not being optimistic. Thank you, Peter.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: All right, well, we'll see.
• 35:38
  Speaker 13: I'm not optimistic.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: After the break, Ben Carroll's I Don't Hold A Hose
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Mate moment as yet another Victorian's killed on the roads
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: that are, by far and away in Victoria, the worst
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: in our country. Plus Labor's dodgy 40-year lotto deal. The
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Auditor-General's report's out. Jess Wilson coming up. Welcome back. Coming
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: out more in the golf grant scandal from a former
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: minister who lost her job for far less. But first,
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: you remember the moment that basically killed off Scott Morrison's
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: credibility with voters in Australia when we battled those fierce
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: bushfires in the summer of 2019, 2020.
• 36:17
  Speaker 10: They know that, you know, I don't hold a hose, mate,
• 36:22
  Speaker 10: and I don't sit in the control room. That's the
• 36:25
  Speaker 10: brave people who do that are doing that job.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yep, it was a line that haunted him for his
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: entire time afterwards as PM. And this should be the
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: response too from Victorians after comments from the Premier yesterday
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: responding to the tragic weekend death of a motorbike rider
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: on a highway that's been ripped apart by potholes and
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: road damage.
• 36:47
  Speaker 10: We've committed to remove half a million. The opposition have
• 36:50
  Speaker 10: committed to remove half of that. I'm the Premier, not
• 36:53
  Speaker 10: the Roads Minister.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: I'm the Premier, he says, not the Roads Minister. Well,
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: joining me now, somebody who wants his job, Opposition Leader
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Jess Wilson. Well, first up, yep, sure, he's a Premier,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: but that means the buck stops with you, mate. But
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: he also was the Roads Minister, if I'm not correct. Well,
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: that's right.
• 37:11
  Speaker 15: In Ben Carroll's case, he actually did hold the hose
• 37:13
  Speaker 15: because he was the Minister for Roads. And when he
• 37:16
  Speaker 15: was the Minister, he cut $ 200 million from the Roads budget.
• 37:21
  Speaker 15: So that was when the rot set in and now
• 37:24
  Speaker 15: we have unsafe roads right across this state. My heart
• 37:28
  Speaker 15: goes out to Peter Mason's family because when he went
• 37:31
  Speaker 15: out for a ride on Sunday afternoon with his mate,
• 37:34
  Speaker 15: he should have come home. He deserved so much better
• 37:38
  Speaker 15: from his government to get the basics right. And to
• 37:42
  Speaker 15: be honest, the buck does stop with Ben Carroll. He's
• 37:44
  Speaker 15: the Premier. To say it doesn't, it isn't leadership and
• 37:48
  Speaker 15: I want to be a very different type of Premier
• 37:50
  Speaker 15: where the buck will always stop with me and I
• 37:53
  Speaker 15: will take responsibility for the good and the bad, but
• 37:56
  Speaker 15: I will also focus on getting the basics right and
• 37:58
  Speaker 15: fixing our roads.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: It's interesting, I get a lot of viewer feedback from
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: around the country and people interstate can't believe we're having
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: a conversation about roads and potholes. It's so topical in
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: a state election where a state's got a multitude of
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: problems before it. And they say to me, look, Victoria's
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: a really little state. How could your roads not be
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: well funded given the population size? But this is right
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: across the board, and there's been reports recently to say
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: that they're just fundamentally in trouble. How can you fix that?
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: How can you afford it?
• 38:27
  Speaker 15: The Auditor-General said last week that nearly half of all
• 38:31
  Speaker 15: Victorian roads are in poor or very poor condition, and
• 38:35
  Speaker 15: that has been an increase from 31% just a few
• 38:38
  Speaker 15: years ago.
• 38:39
  Speaker 12: Mm.
• 38:39
  Speaker 15: We're investing $ 5 billion as a starting point to actually
• 38:43
  Speaker 15: repair and rebuild Victorian roads. We can't patch potholes because
• 38:48
  Speaker 15: they just come back again, and that's Labor's approach. You know,
• 38:51
  Speaker 15: five minutes before midnight before an election, we're hearing Ben
• 38:54
  Speaker 15: Carroll suddenly say that they're going to fix 500,000 potholes
• 38:57
  Speaker 15: and put more, yeah, hundreds of millions of dollars in.
• 39:01
  Speaker 15: But they're the very people who let the roads get
• 39:03
  Speaker 15: into this poor and very poor condition in the first place.
• 39:06
  Speaker 15: You just cannot trust them to fix them.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: But I will. Well, what about the patch job on
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: the budget with that lotto deal? What have we learned
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: out today from the Auditor-General?
• 39:15
  Speaker 15: Another report from the Auditor-General today that shows that this
• 39:19
  Speaker 15: is such a desperate government that they did this 40-year
• 39:22
  Speaker 15: extension of the lotto deal here in Victoria, potentially lost
• 39:26
  Speaker 15: $ 200 million that could have come to the taxpayer from
• 39:29
  Speaker 15: that deal by having this process play out. Another process
• 39:33
  Speaker 15: that was shrouded in secrecy and the Auditor General found
• 39:36
  Speaker 15: that today that there was limited transparency. But it was
• 39:40
  Speaker 15: all done, Peter, to keep the net debt figure in
• 39:42
  Speaker 15: this state below $ 200 billion.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: In this year. It's a cookie in the books, Jess.
• 39:46
  Speaker 15: Absolutely. You cannot trust what is in the books here
• 39:49
  Speaker 15: in Victoria. And we know that because just a couple
• 39:51
  Speaker 15: of weeks ago, Ben Carroll was caught red-handed again by
• 39:55
  Speaker 15: the Auditor-General with his secret tax on every single public
• 39:58
  Speaker 15: transport fare. And what was he at the time that
• 40:01
  Speaker 15: this secret tax was devised? The Minister for Public Transport.
• 40:05
  Speaker 15: So the Minister for Roads, the Minister for Public Transport,
• 40:08
  Speaker 15: the Minister for Crime Prevention, but still failing to take responsibility.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: Are you worried that you get there on the 28th
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: of November and you wake up on the 29th and
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: you're hit with what Costello found in that infamous budget
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: period when he and Howard won in 96, when you
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: open up the books and the numbers are wrong, you
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: open up the cupboard drawers and everything's basically a policy
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: unexploded bomb, that things are far worse than you've ever
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: been told?
• 40:36
  Speaker 15: Look, I largely expect that will be the case. And
• 40:38
  Speaker 15: to be honest, I think Victorians expect that to be
• 40:41
  Speaker 15: the case as well. They know that they can't trust
• 40:43
  Speaker 15: this government or what is in the budget papers here.
• 40:46
  Speaker 15: But what I will be is I'll be honest with
• 40:48
  Speaker 15: Victorians about what we find. We've committed to, within our
• 40:51
  Speaker 15: first 100 days of coming to government, producing a budget
• 40:55
  Speaker 15: update so Victorians can understand exactly the state of the
• 40:58
  Speaker 15: finances here in Victoria. I'll always be honest.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: I'll be upfront.
• 41:02
  Speaker 15: But I'll also make the disciplined decisions required to make
• 41:04
  Speaker 15: sure we fix the budget. And we bring back hope
• 41:07
  Speaker 15: and opportunity to this state.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: Western Renewables Link, I'm inundated with people out that way.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: I know you've scrapped another key part of the VNI,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: the VNI West. This is another part of a link.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: It's got farmers up in arms. The Premier must know
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: he's burning on this politically because he put out a
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: weasel word statement yesterday saying that it's under some sort
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: of review. Where do you stand on this?
• 41:33
  Speaker 15: Well, I wrote to Ben Carroll a number of weeks ago,
• 41:36
  Speaker 15: probably a couple of months ago now, as Victoria's alternative premier,
• 41:41
  Speaker 15: asking him to immediately stop this project because I know
• 41:45
  Speaker 15: it doesn't have the social licence to proceed. I've sat,
• 41:49
  Speaker 15: you know, I've visited these communities, I've been on the ground,
• 41:51
  Speaker 15: I've visited the farms, I've sat around the kitchen tables
• 41:54
  Speaker 15: and I've heard that these communities are incredibly angry that
• 41:58
  Speaker 15: this government has bulldozed over their rights. For this reason,
• 42:03
  Speaker 15: I can say to your viewers and exclusively on this
• 42:06
  Speaker 15: program tonight that if WRL is to ever proceed under
• 42:10
  Speaker 15: a government I lead, it would have to fundamentally change
• 42:15
  Speaker 15: and it would not proceed in the way that Labor
• 42:17
  Speaker 15: has proposed because it does not have the social licence
• 42:21
  Speaker 15: to do so, Peter. But as I said to Ben
• 42:24
  Speaker 15: Carroll in my letter when I said he needed to
• 42:25
  Speaker 15: stop this project, it is also going to cost Victorians
• 42:29
  Speaker 15: more and more on their energy bills. WRL and other
• 42:33
  Speaker 15: transmission projects like VNI West could cost Victorians more than
• 42:38
  Speaker 15: $ 600 a year on their energy bills while do nothing
• 42:42
  Speaker 15: to actually solve the looming shortfalls here in Victoria.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: I think this is a key point, Jess. I think
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: people don't understand that the increased cost of these projects
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: is is on their bill.
• 42:50
  Speaker 8: That's right.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: It's not money in Spring Street. It's not, you know,
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: the company's money. It's on their bill.
• 42:56
  Speaker 15: It's going to be paid by energy consumers here in
• 42:58
  Speaker 15: Victoria and I won't allow big business to write themselves
• 43:02
  Speaker 15: a blank cheque at the expense of Victorian energy consumers.
• 43:06
  Speaker 15: So we will not allow this project to proceed without
• 43:10
  Speaker 15: fundamental changes to what Labor has proposed, if it ever
• 43:13
  Speaker 15: does proceed itself.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: If it ever does proceed, I think people at home
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: will be writing that down. Jess Wilson, thank you. Thank you, Peter.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: All right, quick break after the break. We'll get into
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: the Barrackville Golf Club scandal in a moment. All right,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: let's go to my next guest, a former minister who
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: was stood down in circumstances far less controversial. and those
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: that are currently facing the Prime Minister, Victorian National Party
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: Senator Bridget McKenzie. Bridget, I wanted to get you on.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: You know this area better than anyone. You've been involved
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: in the portfolio. The PM's telling us that he had
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: nothing to do with this decision. Now, I've been able
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: to prove... He announced it on the 27th of April.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: His mates at the golf club were out there on
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: Facebook spruiking about how much money they had. They didn't
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: even know how they were going to spend it. The
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: minister didn't even have a process up and running until
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: six months later. He owns a $ 3 million house 200
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: metres from the golf course. He's been an honorary member
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: for good on a decade. Why doesn't he have questions
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: to answer here? Why is he not being straight with us? Yeah,
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: you've summed it up beautifully, Peter. This guy has got
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of questions to answer. He's written a ministerial
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: code that makes it very clear that whether you.
• 44:34
  Speaker 12: Have financial or non-financial interests in decisions as a cabinet minister,
• 44:40
  Speaker 12: and particularly as the first amongst equals, the prime minister
• 44:43
  Speaker 12: in that cabinet, you need to be very upfront with
• 44:46
  Speaker 12: declaring those conflicts in order to provide trust to the
• 44:50
  Speaker 12: broader public that those conflicts are being managed appropriately. He
• 44:55
  Speaker 12: hasn't declared this interest at all in his public register.
• 45:00
  Speaker 12: He has admitted that he had an honorary membership himself.
• 45:03
  Speaker 12: So why wasn't it declared? Particularly when you look at
• 45:06
  Speaker 12: his public interest, it's all there, all the other kind
• 45:11
  Speaker 12: of memberships he has. So we need to understand why
• 45:16
  Speaker 12: he didn't do this, If he did it, when and
• 45:19
  Speaker 12: to whom? Was it declared to the Cabinet? Was it
• 45:22
  Speaker 12: declared to the Expenditure Review Committee? And I think, Peter,
• 45:25
  Speaker 12: that's what's been so fantastic this week.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: In the Australian Senate.
• 45:29
  Speaker 12: We've been able to get a Senate inquiry set up
• 45:33
  Speaker 12: to actually look at this program and those Absolutely, those
• 45:38
  Speaker 12: detailed questions, not just for the Prime Minister, but for
• 45:41
  Speaker 12: Minister Christy McBain, Minister King.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: We saw a story in the Adelaide Addy.
• 45:47
  Speaker 12: Today, Minister Butler writing to a club in his electorate
• 45:52
  Speaker 12: saying that $ 1. 5 million isn't enough, you need to ask
• 45:55
  Speaker 12: for more, and getting awarded, you know, millions more to
• 45:59
  Speaker 12: that club. So this whole program stinks. It's completely different
• 46:04
  Speaker 12: to our sporting infrastructure program, which was open to everyone, competitive.
• 46:09
  Speaker 12: We had over a thousand applications, you know, funded over
• 46:14
  Speaker 12: 680 different projects around the country in a whole manner
• 46:18
  Speaker 12: of areas and locations.
• 46:20
  Speaker 7: So, you know, this is a.
• 46:21
  Speaker 12: Different program and it stinks to high hell.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: What irks me here, and I think this is the
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: crux of the issue, is he's hiding behind the fact
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: that the Minister signs the cheque off six months after
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: he announces the money. But no-one disputes when the Prime
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: Minister announces money that they're going to get it. That's
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: the absolute tone of the Mayor and the golf club.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: Everyone knows a colleague might lose out in the wash,
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: but the Prime Minister's not going to get rolled by
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: his Minister. So when he made the decision in the
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: campaign back in the April... Did he declare his interest then?
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Who did he declare it to? And where is the
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: evidence it was declared? Because this golf club was going
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: to be changed. It was going to move from an
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: 18-hole course to a nine-hole course. There was a clubhouse
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: that was in the rack and ruin. There was talk
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: of social housing. All of that mattered, as you would know,
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: to the valuation on his home that's 200 metres away
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: from this rare green space in inner-city Sydney.
• 47:26
  Speaker 12: So the Code makes clear, Peter, you have to declare
• 47:29
  Speaker 12: financial or non-financial interests.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: He has those conflicts.
• 47:33
  Speaker 12: That is without dispute, as you have disclosed. What needs
• 47:39
  Speaker 12: to be understood, if the process isn't even set up,
• 47:42
  Speaker 12: who or.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: How does he declare these interests to?
• 47:46
  Speaker 12: And it is a very brave minister that says, no,
• 47:48
  Speaker 12: Prime Minister, you're not getting that grant.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: I doubt Catherine King would be the minister if she
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: had refused it.
• 47:54
  Speaker 7: I am, mate.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. We might get some truth out of this yet.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: Bridget McKenzie, thank you very much for joining me tonight. Well,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: there you go. I'll be sending her a few transcripts
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: from the program, won't I? Quick break. Kel Richards after
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: the break. Welcome back. Joining me as he does every Wednesday,
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: broadcaster extraordinaire, the dear Kel Richards. Kel, we're going to
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: start with Wes. I think it's Wes. No, we're going
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: to start with, yeah, Wes, Wes, Wes. You'd like to
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: know the meaning of the term doubling down. Now, I'd
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: like this one too.
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, well, it means obviously to commit more firmly to something.
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: And it comes from a card game. It comes from
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: the card game called pontoon or blackjack. And it was
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: originally coined in the card game to mean someone who
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: doubles their bet, doubles the bet after all the cards,
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: the first dealing of cards, knowing only one more card
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: is going to be dealt. It was always thought of
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: as being a very committed but very risky thing to do.
• 48:53
  Speaker 4: So I think Double Down started to be risky action.
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: It's now often used to mean determined action, but it
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: comes from the card game.
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: Well, Pim wants to know when push comes to shove,
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: meaning an origin.
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: OK, it means determined, committed action. It means when just
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: pushing won't do it, it needs a good hard shove.
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: The really interesting thing, I find this fascinating. It comes
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: from a women's magazine in 1889.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: 1889.
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: The first time the phrase appears in print is in
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: the Women's Home Circle in February of 1889 in an
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: article about a farm girl who made good in the city.
• 49:29
  Speaker 4: And the article was called If Push Comes to Shove.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: So somehow that was the origin of the expression.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: Have we got time for curmudgeon? This one's for Graeme.
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: Curmudgeon means a grumpy old man, these days, or any
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: sort of grisly old man. But when it turned up
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: in the 1500s, it actually, the original form of the
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: word was cornmudgeon. It was an old man who actually
• 49:51
  Speaker 4: had a hoard of corn and refused to share it
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: with his neighbours in tough times. He was a cornmudgeon. Nowadays,
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: just any grumpy old man can be a curmudgeon.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: Can a woman be a curmudgeon?
• 50:03
  Speaker 4: Actually, I don't think they ever have been. I think
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: you've got to be a bloke to be a curmudgeon.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Maybe you're a battle-axe if you are, but I don't know.
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: We'll get to that one next week. I've known a
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: few of both in my time. I'll leave it there.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: Kel Richards, you're certainly not a curmudgeon. See you all
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night. Here's the BOP report.